Kicking it with his mom on May 4, to celebrate her 102nd birthday, Chuck Norris posted a heartfelt message honoring the woman he says is “so full of life that she might make it another 100 years!”
Chuck, who turned 83 in March, writes in a letter to his mom, Wilma, “Mom, I don’t know what’s more difficult to believe: that you are 102 years old or that you have a son who is 83 years old! Regardless, I’m so grateful you are my mom. I always have been. We’ve been through thick and thin in this life, and we are still going strong.”
Her birthday less than two weeks from Mother’s Day, the martial artist and actor said, “I am overwhelmed with gratitude to God for three women’s influence in my life. I wouldn’t be the man I am without them. Those three women are his granny Scarberry (Wilma’s mom) who died at 90, his mom, and his wife, Gina, whom he married in 1998. The couple have twins, Dakota and Danilee, who were born 2001.
Wilma Norris Knight was born in 1921 and Chuck–born Carlos Ray–credits her influence, prayers and steadfast faith, for the man he is today.
A child in the Great Depression, Wilma didn’t have it easy. Living in poverty, she raised her three boys, Chuck the eldest, as a single mother.
When Wilma became a centenarian, Chuck said of her, “Mom has been an example of perseverance and faith her whole life. She’s also endured the deaths of her two husbands, a stepson, two grandchildren, and my younger brother Wieland in the Vietnam War. She’s had cancer repeatedly and has undergone roughly 30 different surgeries for various issues–yet she’s still here to tell about it.”
In May 2012, Wilma, who still refers to Chuck as Carlos, appeared on The Mike Huckabee Show, and freely spoke about her life. Describing her sons, she said Chuck is the “defender,” his brother, Aaron, is her “sunshine,” and the Wieland, the youngest who died in Vietnam, was her “hero.”